Swachh Bharat Mission picks up great momentum & on way to target

Swachh Bharat Mission has picked up great momentum now and it is hopeful to achieve the target of Swachh Bharat by October 02,2019. Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha on July 20, the Minister of State for Drinking Water and Sanitation Shri Ramesh Chandappa Jigjinagi said that the Sanitation Coverage, which was 41.80% on 2.10.2014, has increased to 65.07% on 17-07-2017. He said that a total of 2, 09,099 Villages, 95,521 Gram Panchayats, 1,411 Blocks and 149 District have been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) as on 17-07-2017. In addition, 5 States namely Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Haryana have also been declared ODF.

Giving out the comparative figures, the Minister said that as against the expected outcome of 50 lakh individual latrines for the year 2014-15, 58,54,987 latrines were constructed, which is an achievement of 117% of the target. During 2015-16, 127.41 lakh toilets were constructed against expected outcome of 120.00 lakh. For the year 2016-17, against the expected outcome of 1.5 crore individual latrines, 219.24 lakh latrines (146%) have been constructed. For the year 2017-18, against the expected outcome of 1.7 crore individual latrines, 45, 19,942 latrines (27%) have been constructed as on 17-07-2017.

The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) (SBM (G)) launched on 2nd October, 2014 with aims to attain Swachh Bharat by 2nd October 2019. The focus of the scheme is on behaviour change and usage of toilets. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation regularly reviews the progress made under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) with States.